Iran - Just One More Monumental Problem
Earl J. Prignitz
April 15, 2006
It seems that we have a monumental problem in our White House these days. The incendiary rhetoric just continues to flow from the mouths of our leaders. You know it simply sounds like 2002-3 all over again. All you need to do is insert Iran for Iraq --but fortunately this time around Bush has little or no credibility left. The chief warmongers — Cheney, Rumsfeld, and all those other neocons have disappeared into the into the woodwork — because they have credibility problems, too. But from everything you hear from them one would surmise that their next move might be a full fledged attack on Iran leaving their bungled mess in Iraq behind. So far Cheney hasn't used the words "mushroom" and "cloud" on the Sunday talk shows yet. But Rice, who seems to have been given the lead on this (because at least she has some credibility left) and who is at least working with the U.N., has said that "strong steps" are needed. And McClellan — whom, one presumes, still speaks for the White House — has said that "It is time for action". Those are pretty strong indicators of our Presidents plans!
While publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, the Bush White House has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials have said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin even a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium.
An article by Seymour Hersh in this week's issue of New Yorker magazine claims the U.S. is stepping up plans for a possible nuclear bombing of Iran to destroy suspected atomic weapons sites and topple President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Washington Post also reported that the U.S. is studying military options against Iran but only as part of a strategy to pressure Iran to back off its nuclear development program. The newspaper, citing unnamed military and intelligence officials, said attacks aren't likely. .
However, always keep in mind that the United States is the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons. It was in 1945, at the end of a world war that had been raging for years. At the time, the bombing was seen as an alternative to an invasion of the Japanese mainland that might have killed hundreds of thousands of American soldiers. In the 60 years since, the world has declared and observed a clear threshold between the use and nonuse of nuclear weapons. To violate that threshold—for a purpose that falls far short of pre-empting an imminent threat or protecting our national survival—would not only be immoral; it would incite outrage across the Middle East and the Muslim world; it would inspire vast recruitment drives by anti-American terrorists (and any resulting sequels to 9/11 would be seen, even by our friends, as just deserts); and it would legitimize nuclear weapons as everyday tools of warfare and spur many nations into building their own arsenals.
This possibility of the use of nuclear weapons to keep another nation from having them is simply insane.
While publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, the Bush White House has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials have said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin even a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium.
An article by Seymour Hersh in this week's issue of New Yorker magazine claims the U.S. is stepping up plans for a possible nuclear bombing of Iran to destroy suspected atomic weapons sites and topple President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Washington Post also reported that the U.S. is studying military options against Iran but only as part of a strategy to pressure Iran to back off its nuclear development program. The newspaper, citing unnamed military and intelligence officials, said attacks aren't likely. .
However, always keep in mind that the United States is the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons. It was in 1945, at the end of a world war that had been raging for years. At the time, the bombing was seen as an alternative to an invasion of the Japanese mainland that might have killed hundreds of thousands of American soldiers. In the 60 years since, the world has declared and observed a clear threshold between the use and nonuse of nuclear weapons. To violate that threshold—for a purpose that falls far short of pre-empting an imminent threat or protecting our national survival—would not only be immoral; it would incite outrage across the Middle East and the Muslim world; it would inspire vast recruitment drives by anti-American terrorists (and any resulting sequels to 9/11 would be seen, even by our friends, as just deserts); and it would legitimize nuclear weapons as everyday tools of warfare and spur many nations into building their own arsenals.
This possibility of the use of nuclear weapons to keep another nation from having them is simply insane.
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